


Misplaced Mail

by DawnsEternalLight



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bonding, Brothers, College, Gen, Letter, mail, opening someone elses mail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 14:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7442872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim's decided to go to college and didn't tell his brothers. When Jason finds out it starts the dominoes falling until they've all figured it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misplaced Mail

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that in the comics Tim is already dealing with trying to tell Bruce he wants to take a grant(?) he's been offered, but I got a request to write the Batboys responding to Tim deciding to go to college, and I wanted to explore that.

Jason liked to think he wasn’t a snooper, he left the unauthorized digging into his family’s lives to Dick and Damian. He valued his privacy and believed in reaping what you sowed, which meant not going through his brother’s mail. Even if he happened upon it outside of Tim’s door.

So when he noticed the envelope from Central City University he decided he wasn’t going to open it. He hadn’t asked to notice it when doing the proper brotherly activity of bringing in his forgetful brother’s mail. He was also not going to think too long or hard about the reasons why it had come to Tim Drake of all people. It was probably junk mail, or the university asking for funds. Knowing Tim, he’d donated something to every college in the nation.

Jason shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and sorted the envelope behind some ads in the pile. Then he pulled it back out to the front before tucking it behind the ads again. He was not going to open it. It didn’t matter that he knew every technique for sealing and unsealing an envelope so no one would know it had been opened.

He pulled the envelope back out to the front of the stack. Damian would have already torn into it at this point, Dick would have gone straight to Tim and demanded to know what it was about. Jason? He was going to be sneaky about this, there was no use ruining his relationship with his brother by rushing into things. After all, it could be junk mail.

He left the rest of Tim’s mail on his mat and left the building, their video game time could wait a half hour or so.

He didn’t make it back to Tim’s apartment, neither did the envelope. It sat on his coffee table, the acceptance letter crinkled by what had to be a hundred disbelieving readings, dropped on top of the envelope. Both sat alone while Jason got an early start to patrol.

It wasn’t that he thought higher education was a bad thing. And he was happy for Tim, he really was. What bothered him was that he’d heard nothing about this life changing decision from Tim. Out of all his family Tim was the easiest for him to talk to, and he liked to think that Tim thought the same of him. If he was admitting things to himself, and he wasn’t, he’d say that he was a little (ok a lot) hurt by discovering Tim’s plans this way.

As he swung through Gotham the next thought to hit him was, what if Tim had told Dick, or maybe he’d asked Bruce for advice? The latter was a long shot, but Tim discussing things with Dick wasn’t out of the question.

His preoccupation with Tim left him blind to the sudden barrage of bullets that came his way. Jason cursed as one pinged off his helmet, grazing it by that much. Stupid Jason, stupid Tim, stupid college acceptance letter. It took him a moment to locate the source of the attack and he was flying into the group. Hitting a few thugs would do wonders for his mood.

Jason had just kicked one of the men in the face when Robin landed on top of the guy behind him, “Need a hand?”

“Not really,” Jason turned to another thug, tearing his gun from his hands before using it to render him unconscious.

Together they made quick work of the men and Damian turned to Jason, “What did they do?”

“What do you mean?”

Damian motioned towards the men, “I’m assuming these men did something deserving of the beating you handed out.”

Jason tapped his helmet where the bullet had grazed, “They nicked my new helmet,” a part of him hoped Damian would accept his words at face value, but another part reminded him that his kid brother was smarter than that.

“Even for you, that’s a lame excuse.”

Jason crossed his arms, “I don’t have to explain myself to a ten-year-old.”

“Tt, Twelve, and no you don’t,” Damian shook his head, “But if the state of these men is anything to go by, you should talk to someone, maybe Grayson could help.”

“He’s the last, wait the second to last, person I want to talk to right now,” Jason said.

“Am I the last?”

“Nope.”

Damian hummed, “Then this is about Drake." 

Jason narrowed his eyes, for all the good it did behind his helmet, “What about Tim?” 

“That’s for you two to work out. Come on, Penguin’s decided to rob a bank on North. I was on my way there when I stopped to help you, so you can return the favor now.”

“I didn’t need the help,” Jason grumbled. 

“Of course you didn’t. Are you coming?” Damian had his grappling hook ready and was eyeing Jason. The Red Hood sighed and pulled his out as well.

“Just the Penguin, and then I’m back to soloing tonight.”

They took down the Penguin and two more attempted robberies in silence. Jason liked that about Damian. The kid knew when to keep his mouth shut and let someone stew for a while. And Jason had stewed, he was certain that Damian had been talking about the college thing, he was also certain that Tim hadn’t breathed a word of it to Damian.

They were perched on a rooftop when Jason broke the silence, “When did you find out?”

“About?”

Jason scowled, “Don’t play dumb. Tim, the college thing.”

“When he started applying. He made the mistake of leaving one open on the Batcave’s computer.”

Jason couldn’t help the grin from sliding past the scowl, he wondered if Damian got his snooping from Dick or if it was an inherited trait, “You mean you looked through his history.”

“What’s your point, Todd?”

Jason shifted into a sitting position, “What do you think about it all, him going off to school?”

Damian mirrored him, moving from his perch into a comfortable seat, “It’s a good opportunity. He might not want to spend the rest of his life being Red Robin, even if he does, higher education would be good for him. Drake is smart, and could do some good with the right training and opportunities.”

Jason hadn’t been expecting that. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when it came to Damian. He knew Tim and Damian didn’t get along well for various reasons, and maybe he’d let that color his judgment of how they saw each other.

“If you tell anyone I said that about Drake-” Damian started.

Jason held up his hands, “I know, you’ll kill me. Dying a second time by your hand is not in my game plan, so don’t worry.”

Damian nodded, “Good,” then he shifted to face Jason better, “You seem upset by his decision.”

Jason shook his head, “Not the decision, no.”

“Then it’s the fact that he hasn’t told you yet that bothers you. Drake has his reasons, I’m sure he won’t disappear without making his intentions known”

“When did you get to be so smart?”

“I was bred to be smart. Unlike someone, now can we get back to patrolling?”

By the next morning Jason had almost stopped worrying about the letter, that was until Dick burst through his door, Damian in tow. Jason frowned at both of them, Dick looking slightly frantic, and Damian glaring, a little out of sorts from either being dragged along or chasing Dick.

Jason sighed inwardly and held up the coffee pot he’d been using to pour the liquid into his own mug, “You guys want some coffee?” he asked already resigned to whatever insanity had brought two of his brothers through his door.

“Yes,” Damian answered as Dick asked, “Is it true?”

“The coffee offer? Yes,” Jason raised an eyebrow at Dick as Damian pushed past both of them to retrieve a mug from the cabinet.

“Not the coffee. Tim,” Dick said.

Jason handed the coffee pot over to Damian, took his own mug in hand, and made his way over to the coffee table, “See for yourself,” he handed Dick the letter.

He steered his shocked brother over to the couch and sat him down before taking the seat next to him. Damian took the last spot on the couch and shrugged at Jason as if to say, ‘I don’t know how Grayson heard, but I tried to stop him.’

“He didn’t tell me. Didn’t even ask for a college suggestion. Did he tell you two?” Dick looked up from the paper.

Damian shook his head while Jason asked, “Would I have stolen his mail if he’d told me?”

Dick frowned, “Opening someone else’s mail is a federal crime.”

“That’s what your sticking with? Not the fact that Tim left everyone out of this decision?” Jason asked.

“Out of what decision?” Three head’s looked guiltily towards the door where Tim stood silhouetted.

“Your decision to attend college,” Damian answered and got an elbow to his ribs from Jason, to which he returned a glare.

Tim closed the door behind him and made a beeline for Jason’s quickly depleting supply of hot coffee, “I was going to tell you all,” Tim started as he prepared his cup, “There just never seemed to be a good time to break the news.”

Tim sat on the open chair and looked at his brothers, “It was my decision to make, and I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. There’s a lot I want to do with my life besides fighting crime at night, and the opportunities available to me from-”

"We’re not going to tell you to not go, Timmers,” Jason stopped him.

Tim blinked at them, “You’re not?”

Dick shook his head, “You’re right, it is a great opportunity. Someone has to do something with their life other than what we do, and I think we’re all happy you’ve decided to do that. It’s just-” he broke off.

“You could have told us you were thinking about it,” Damian filled in the words neither Dick nor Jason seemed able to say.

Jason nodded, energized by the words being out there, “We’d never try to keep you away from something you wanted, the opposite is true. We could have helped you.”

“Or just been there for support,” Dick added.

Tim sighed, “I know,” he shrugged, “I guess I just forgot that.”  

“Have you told my Father?” Damian asked.

Tim shook his head, “I don’t know how. He’s been so ready to make me a better fighter lately; I just keep putting it off.”

“Well, we’re here to help. We can all go break the news together if you’d like,” Dick said.

“Or I could casually mention it during dinner, Father loves those kinds of surprises” Damian’s grin was a mischievous one.

“Maybe we could just slip your acceptance letter under Bruce’s door and let him find out that way,” Jason suggested.

Tim shuddered, “Dick’s idea is the best, I don’t know if I’d survive either of the other two.”

“So, what are you going to study?” Jason asked and as Tim prepared to tell them about his plans Jason smiled. Sure he wasn’t a snooper, but maybe Dick and Damian were right in keeping an eye on how their family was doing.


End file.
